The present invention relates to a method of and to an apparatus for changing the direction of movement of successive streams of sheets which consist of paper or the like, especially to a method of and to an apparatus for changing the direction of movement of streams which consist of partially overlapping imprinted paper sheets.
Commonly owned Swiss patent application Ser. No. 469,925 filed Feb. 25, 1983 by Heinz Linder for "Method and apparatus for transporting and storing paper sheets and the like" discloses and apparatus wherein a continuous scalloped stream of partially overlapping paper sheets is subdivided into long discrete streams each of which is temporarily stored between the convolutions of an elastic band which is coiled around a rotary core so that each stored stream forms an elongated helix whose convolutions are disposed between the neighboring convolutions of the band. The continuous stream of sheets is supplied by a folding machine. In order to ensure that the sheets which are withdrawn from temporary storage will be in optimum positions for further processing (e.g., in a gathering machine), the apparatus of Ser. No. 469,925 comprises means for convoluting successive discrete streams onto a second core and for thereupon withdrawing successive streams from the second core so that the sequence of sheets in each of the thus treated streams is the same as in the continuous stream.
A drawback of apparatus which employ direction reversing means in the form of cores and elastic bands is that they occupy a substantial amount of space. Therefore, such apparatus can be put to use only in certain types of plants where the required space is available or where the provision of required space is warranted in view of the capacity of the plant or for other reasons.